The Horizon Desktop Editor can now AI generate 3D models, textures, and skyboxes, adding to its existing audio and TypeScript AI generation features.
Meta Horizon Desktop Editor is a flatscreen Windows PC application that entered public early access in February, replacing the Horizon Worlds in-VR world creation toolset which had been harshly criticized, and even ridiculed, for its overly simplistic results. Horizon Desktop Editor offers the ability to import 3D assets, images, and sound files, place them in a 3D landscape, and implement game logic and other functionality using TypeScript, a popular offshoot of JavaScript.
This launch also saw in-world monetization features roll out to most of the countries where Horizon Worlds is available, letting creators earn revenue. Creators can offer durable purchases, such as a held item, or consumable purchases, such as power-ups or coins.
David Heaney
Since that early access launch, creators in the US have been able to AI generate sound effects and ambient audio in the Horizon Desktop Editor, as well as AI generate TypeScript to add functionality.
Now, Meta has added the ability to AI generate 3D meshes, textures, and skyboxes. And all these generative AI tools are now available in the UK and Canada too, not just the US.
Meta claims these generative AI tools can "dramatically" reduce the time needed to build virtual worlds "from weeks to as little as hours".
To generate a 3D model, you just type a description of what you want and wait 3-6 minutes on average. You'll then be offered four options, and you either accept one or refine the prompt further. When you settle on one you like, you type a description for the texture you want for the model and generate what you want. Now, you can place your textured 3D model wherever you want in the world.
For skybox generation, there are six different "styles" to choose from: skydome, photorealistic, digital painting, open world, anime and comic. These styles flavor the description you type.
Examples of various skybox styles.
AI generation is rate-limited, as it is processed on Meta's servers, with the following daily limits:
- TypeScript: 1000 generations per day
- Audio: 200 generations per day
- 3D Meshes: 100 generations per day
- Skyboxes: 50 generations per day
To access the editor, download the Meta Quest Link PC app and install Meta Horizon Desktop Editor in it. Then, in Library, click the three dots below Meta Horizon Desktop Editor and select 'Start in desktop mode'.
Later this year, Meta plans to let Horizon Worlds creators add AI NPCs that you can talk to with your voice, which can "engage in conversations, help people out, and even compete in games".
"We'll also support world understanding and complex action chaining, so NPCs can be a really rich part of the world you created", Meta claimed at Meta Connect 2024.
Horizon Worlds currently supports simple NPCs that can be driven via TypeScript, but the coming feature would enable much richer virtual characters on the platform.
David Heaney
Meta is still running its $50 million Meta Horizon Creator Fund to pay creators of "fun and engaging" worlds. Here's the company's description of how the money is being distributed:
"Each month, we’ll pay out bonuses from the Creator Fund to the makers of fun and engaging mobile and MR worlds. Bonuses will be tied to worlds’ contributions to the overall ecosystem across time spent, retention, and in-world purchases, so there are a variety of different ways for creators to maximize their earnings."
Note that Meta uses the term "MR" to mean both MR and VR now, so in the above description you should read "MR" as "VR".
